Florian Pittiş, Moment poetic by Florian Pittiş

For GM, the auto industry that failed a few years ago, being a murder capital* a few years ago, and now it’s known for this water crisis. It’s what heals me and I know that it can help heal my city.įlint has been known for very few things. It is able to tell the ugliest stories so beautifully. This water crisis is not going to get us down. And even hope the size of a mustard seed is powerful. When we don’t have something we start to believe that we don’t deserve it, but the arts … by having an outlet like poetry, you are able to reclaim everything and say “Yes, I do deserve this.” It gives hope.

And if society is looking down on us, we look down on ourselves. Or maybe they’ve had one bad experience and they’re just holding on to that bad experience. They have all of these negative connotations of Flint and they don’t even know us. No, when you go out of town people pity you.

That’s not what you hear when you go out of town. It’s what heals me and I know that it can help heal my city.” - Danielle Horton, 19īut that’s not what the news says. All across the borders, from sports to the arts, to the academics, there is so much power here in the city of Flint. It is important for anyone to have that kind of escape but especially in Flint. The arts in general a positive outlet, and it is important to have that escape.

I asked them how poetry - and in particular, poetry by young people - could help provide a more nuanced portrait of Flint. These poets say the water is merely the latest in a string of events that have brought negative press to Flint, overshadowing the innovative artists and activists that live and work there every day. 28 at #JusticeForFlint, an event that showcased a range of voices from a city known chiefly, at the moment, for its water crisis. “Being with the poets on the team, being with Natasha and having that encouraging, positive spirit really did save my life,” she said.īridges, who now attends Eastern Michigan University, joined four other young poets with Raise It Up! and tap dancer Leilani Clay to perform on Feb. Going to their weekly practice, and talking to Raise It Up! co-founder Natasha Thomas-Jackson, helped her pull through what she said was one of the most difficult seasons of her life. It was her second year with Raise It Up!, a youth arts organization based in Flint, where she performed on a slam team with other young poets from the city. Poetry was kind of the one thing that I relied on to make me feel better,” she said. “I kind of shut out everybody all throughout that year. At a low point in the summer of 2013, Flint student Razjea Bridges turned to poetry.

Florian Pittiş, Moment poetic by Florian Pittiş